His mastery of parliamentary law is a good subject to begin with. January 18, 1850, it was moved that the sergeant-at-arms act as doorkeeper until one be elected. The chair decided that the question affected the organization of the house and was therefore one of privilege. On an appeal there was much discussion. Here is the part played by Toombs: "_Mr. Toombs._ I apprehend that the speaker has committed error. This is not an office known to the law; it was created only by the rules of the house. The office of speaker and clerk alone are known to the law.... It is not every officer whom by their rules they may choose to appoint, that is necessary to the organization of the house. Suppose that by a rule they provided for the appointment of a bootblack; could a resolution for his appointment be made a question of privilege to arrest and override all other business? Mr. Bayley inquired of the gentleman from Georgia if a rule was not as clearly obligatory upon the house as a law. _Mr. Toombs._ It is; but its execution is not a question of organization." A reversal was the result. The following took place February 20, 1851, and is a good illustration of his forcible way of putting things: "_Mr. Toombs._ (Interrupting Mr. Stanton) called the gentleman to order. The committee ought not to tolerate this custom of speaking to matters not immediately before it. _The Chairman._ Does the gentleman from Georgia raise the point of order that the remarks of the gentleman from Tennessee are not in order because they have no reference to the bill before the committee. _Mr. Toombs._ My point is that debate upon steamboats is not in order upon a pension bill. _The Chairman._ I decide the gentleman is in order. It has been invariable practice to permit such debate in committee of the whole on the state of the union. _Mr. Toombs._ The practice may have been permitted; but it was wrong." On appeal by Toombs the chairman was reversed. Though Toombs--a whig--had stubbornly opposed the candidacy of Howell Cobb--a democrat--he soon became to the latter, after his election as speaker, the leading parliamentary authority. Often there would be confused clamor and wild disorder, nearly every member proposing something. At a loss himself, Cobb would look at Toombs and see him intently conning his Jefferson. Soon he would rise, and being recognized by the speaker at once, would forthwith suggest the right thing. The foregoing was often told by Cobb, as his friends have informed me. February 24, 1853, he shows up the bad consequences of overpaid offices, the duties of which the holders can hire others to do for half of its compensation; and March 2, the same year, he thus speaks of a cognate evil: